Chapter VII: Part 7

The poor Dewdrop had listened silently to all that had passed, and felt so wounded, that at last he wished he never had been born. Slowly a bright tear fell and splashed the dust.

Just then, a Skylark fluttered to the ground and eagerly darted his beak at the Diamond.

"Alas!" he piped, with a great sob of disappointment. "What I thought to be a precious dewdrop is only a worthless diamond. My throat is parched for want of water. I must die of thirst!"

"Really? The world will never get over your loss," cruelly sneered the Diamond.

But a sudden and noble resolve came to the Dewdrop. Deeply did he repent his foolish wish. _He could now lay down his life that the life of another might be saved!_

"May _I_ help you, please?" he gently asked.

The Lark raised his drooping head.

"Oh, my precious, precious friend, if you will, you can save my life!"

"Open your mouth then."

And the Dewdrop slid from the blade of grass, tumbled into the parched beak, and was eagerly swallowed.

"Ah--well, well!" pondered the Beetle as he continued his homeward way. "I've been taught a lesson that I shall not easily forget. Yes, yes! Simple worth is far better than rank or wealth without modesty and unselfishness--and there is no _true_ beauty where these virtues are absent!"

FOOTNOTES:

[38] By Rev. Albert E. Sims.

[Transcriber's notes: All words marked [A] in the original were presumed. The text was not clear enough to make them out definitively.

Marchen changed to Märchen to fit rest of text.

Standarized punctuation.]

End of Project Gutenberg's Stories to Tell Children, by Sara Cone Bryant